W.E.A.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 July 1943, Page 2

W.E.A.

THE RUSSIAN PEASANT. AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION. The discussion at the last meeting of the W.E.A. centred round a theory propounded by Sir John RJaynard in “The Russian Peasant,” which declares that true democracy demands both political and economic equality. The Western democracies, he states, have achieved the first, the U.S.S.R. the second.

The group agreed that if the ability to change its rulers without the use of force was a test, that Russia was still lacking in political democracy. A lengthy discussion then ensued on the effect of our economic system on political equality and the group came to tho conclusion that the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small class prevented political equality from being fully realised. Sir John Maynard, it was pointed out, is pessimistic about the development. of political equality in the U.S.S.R. In this connection it is interesting to note that there existed a large politically unprivileged class (the women) in Britain until the end of the last war. It is perhaps unreasonable, it was stated, in view of this slow development of political equality in the Western world, to expect the U.S.S.R. to achieve it in the first 25 years of its existence.